Author discusses Korea tensions at book signing

Author Maija Rhee Devine, right, speaks about her book "The Voices of Heaven" as Brenda Paik Sunno listens during a book reading and signing at Seoul Selection Publishing in Irvine on Sunday. "The Voices of Heaven" is a love story set during the Korean War. KENT TREPTOW, FOR THE REGISTER

The Korean War

Duration: June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953; ended by armistice

Who fought: North Korea, supported by China and the Soviet Union; South Korea, supported by the United Nations, with heavy involvement of the U.S.

Military casualties (includes dead, wounded, missing in action and POW): 776,360 for U.N. and South Korea; between 1.18 million and 1.54 million for North Korea and China

Civilians killed or wounded: About 2.5 million

Also known as: The Forgotten War

IRVINE – A group of Korean Americans and Koreans gathered Sunday afternoon to discuss a new book about the Korean War and to exchange views on the escalating tensions between North Korea, South Korea and the U.S.

Maija Rhee Devine, author of "The Voices of Heaven," met with Irvine residents in the fifth-floor offices of Seoul Selection Publishing for a book signing and discussion. Her novel tells the story of a Korean couple who adopt a girl and use the services of a mistress to bear a male child. They are all subsequently torn apart by war.

"This is a story about the common people of Korea, and the record of their having lived through the Korean War and its aftermath," said Devine, a Korean-born writer and teacher who lives in Kansas City, Mo. "They go through the trials and heartaches of the Korean War, and that Korean War situation still holds relevance to today's situation because of recent developments."

Those developments include the revoking last month of a 60-year-old armistice by North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, and an increase of bellicose threats by Kim. Those threats have been matched by the U.S. with military exercises and warnings of dire consequences if war breaks out.

"I have a lot of concern about Korea," said Jan Sunoo, a Korean American international consultant and instructor at the Rotary Peace Center who attended Sunday's talk. "I'm very concerned, because all the newspaper headlines and all this talk about increasing volatility – all they focus on is what Kim Jong Un says. I don't think there's any analysis of what's the U.S. role, and our foreign policy role, in this escalation."

Amy Choo, a Korean citizen who attended university in Utah and works at the Korea Foundation in Los Angeles, said she gets worried when she watches CNN here. However, when she calls her parents in South Korea, they tell her nothing is going to happen.

"My friends ask me, 'If war breaks out, are we going to go back, or are we going to stay here?'" said Choo, who lives with her sister Hazel, a student at Irvine Valley College. "It's a really hard question for us. I really hope that this is the same thing that, over and over, North Korea has done."

Choo is referring to a pattern of threatening rhetoric by North Korea, followed by negotiations with South Korea and the U.S. and some concessions of aid. North Korea, officially a socialist republic, is one of the most isolated countries in the world, yet is also one of the most heavily militarized. A known nuclear weapons state, North Korea also suffers from widespread famine, according to many reports.

Devine said she hopes readers of her book will understand Korean culture better, in "all its sensuality as well as its values."

"I want them to come away with the feeling that the characters, no matter how difficult their situations were, they try to live honorably, according to the values given to them by heaven," she said.

Devine is married to Michael J. Devine, director of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Mo. Her novel is available on amazon.com and through Ingram Publisher Services.

Author Maija Rhee Devine, right, speaks about her book "The Voices of Heaven" as Brenda Paik Sunno listens during a book reading and signing at Seoul Selection Publishing in Irvine on Sunday. "The Voices of Heaven" is a love story set during the Korean War. KENT TREPTOW, FOR THE REGISTER
Author Maija Rhee Devine, left, greets Amy Choo, right, and her sister, Hazel, during a book reading and signing at Seoul Selection Publishing in Irvine on Sunday. Devine's book "The Voices of Heaven" is a love story set during the Korean War. KENT TREPTOW, FOR THE REGISTER
Author Maija Rhee Devine, right, laughs with fellow author Brenda Paik Sunno during a book reading and signing at Seoul Selection Publishing in Irvine on Sunday. KENT TREPTOW, FOR THE REGISTER
Author Maija Rhee Devine speaks about her book "The Voices of Heaven" during a book reading and signing at Seoul Selection Publishing in Irvine on Sunday. "The Voices of Heaven" is a love story set during the Korean War. KENT TREPTOW, FOR THE REGISTER
Maija Rhee Devine's book "The Voices of Heaven" is a love story set during the Korean War. KENT TREPTOW, FOR THE REGISTER

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